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Sunday, 20 June 10
OUR COAL: ITS DEVELOPMENT AND CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES
 Indonesia’s production of coal has been growing amazingly. In the mid 1980s, national coal production was less than 1 million tons per annum, whereas energy planners (in the fourth Five Year Development Plan: 1989-1994) pointed at 10 million tons as the national production target.
The current production has jumped dramatically, recorded as 237 million tons in 2008 (predicted to achieve 270 million tons this year), making Indonesia a world class producer and the largest exporter of coal around the globe. The skyrocketing growth of our coal production has also incited many controversial issues.
Coal is considered as the dirtiest among fossil fuels, making environmentalists oppose their wide use
as fuel.
However, the proposal for ceasing use of coal — power generation, for instance — would be challenged by power utilities demanding low cost fuel that coal may offer and by the government, which has the responsibility to provide electricity as well as have revenue from exploiting its energy resources.
Despite the world’s rising anxiety of global warming, IEA (International Energy Agency: World Energy Outlook 2009) statistics shows that the world consumption for coal, for the last decade, is still growing the fastest among primary energy sources.
The environmental problem associated with coal in Indonesia is not limited to green houses gases (GHG), but also damage and pollution since its exploitation, transportation and uses to post mining.
It is easy to find where many coal fields are not mined appropriately according to “good mining and environmental practices”, coal transportation is not considering safety standards and is damaging rivers, (public) roads and seashores.
The coal mining has polluted the land, water and air of especially Kalimantan, where more than 90 percent of Indonesia’s coal mining operations take place.
It is sad that many of the previous mining areas have been abandoned without being properly reclaimed, whereas thousands of hectares of the island’s tropical forests have been converted into desert.
The soaring exploitation, including its negative impact on the environment, has a strong correlation with the number of licensing/permits awarded.
The introduction of the 1999 Regional Autonomy Law, subsequently followed by the 1999 Fiscal Balancing Law between the Central and Regional Governments have — to some degree — impacted on the coal licensing regime, where larger authorities had been given to regional/local governments.
Under the new licensing regime by local governments, requirements for coal permits tend to be relaxed whereas monitoring has not been done properly.
As a result, the number of permits (Mining Authorization/KP) has been growing considerably (currently 462, of which 169 are producing), coal production increases, but also environmental problems and the issues of illegal mining exist.
The question of who really owns the KP licenses exists, which was defined as that it can be owned by Indonesian national/companies only.
While the largest part of coal in Indonesia are being produced by large companies (the holders of Coal Contract of Work/PKP2B), some coal is mined by small scale and illegal miners.
It is believed that a significant amount of coal has been produced by illegal miners (some 5 million tons annually) and part has gone to meet export demand.
Wherever in the world, illegal miners lack interest in responsible mining and mine rehabilitation practices. Illegal mining is a problem for potential investors, the environment and government revenues.
The government has introduced measures to crack down on problems, including arresting illegal miners.
However, it cannot be the only solution since illegal mining is actually rooted in underemployment, local poverty and weak law enforcement, while the number of people involved in these activities is quite significant.
An alternative to confrontation to illegal miners by the central government (who awards the large scale PKP2B mining license) should be a cooperative and more comprehensive approach.
“Despite the world’s anxiety of global warming, IEA statistics shows that the world consumption for coal is still growing the fastest among primary energy sources.”
Work together with local/rural governments and communities to reduce poverty, educate/assist the illegal miners to increase their awareness on good mining practices (including mine rehabilitation), provide transition period fiscal incentives to encourage illegal mining toward the regulated mining sector, among others.
It needs to maintain an appropriate balance between the soaring exports of coal (about three quarters of production on average) and the domestic growing demand for the same fuel.
Push for exports is still coming largely from the traditional East Asians (Japan is the largest), while the coal-hungry India and China are also increasing their demand for our coal.
The exports will be competed with by the Blue Print for Energy Management 2005-2025 pointing out that one third of Indonesia’s energy primary energy mix in 2025 is to be supplied by coal, (the current share is about 15 percent).
Even though it is often mentioned that our coal reserves are quite large (current proven reserves of 5.5 billion tons; estimated resources of 105 tones) and that our reserves for coal are much larger than that of oil and gas, we should watch their fast rate of exploitation cautiously.
It needs to recalculate the benefit of exploiting them, taking into account their damage to the environment and what is left post mining. Where have all the revenues from exploiting that coal gone? Is the escalating export not jeopardizing the domestic energy security in the near future?
We have ample experiences, for instance in exploiting the resources-rich Kalimantan. The forests, oil and gas reserves have been exploited for about four to five decades, but it seems that the island has not enjoyed the fruits of the excessive exploitation: the current regional economy remains weak, infrastructure is poor and energy supplies for local uses have not been secured.
It needs to promote the terms “resources balance, depletion, sustainability”, start internalizing the costs of environmental impact and enforce those concepts into workable policies for our coal mining development.
The writer is the senior energy planner and an economist with the National Development Planning Agency. The opinions expressed are his own.
Source: The Jakarta Post ( Hanan Nugroho)
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Thursday, 18 July 13
DRY BULK MARKETS RETAINS RECENT GAINS, MOVES SIDEWAYS - NIKOS ROUSSANOGLOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING NEWS
The dry bulk market has kept on moving sideways this week, as evidenced by the latest trends of the industry's benchmark, the Baltic Dry Index (BDI ...
Wednesday, 17 July 13
NEWCASTLE COAL EXPORTS FELL 3.85% ON WEEK
COALspot.com: Newcastle port in Australia has loaded 2,860,149 tons of coal for the week ended 0700 hours 15 July 2013, Newcastle Port Corp. s ...
Wednesday, 17 July 13
TORN BETWEEN A CREDIT CRUNCH AND SUSTAINABLE GROWTH - GEORGE DERMATIS
COALspot.com: In 2012 China expanded at a rate of 7.8%, its worst annual performance in 13 years, raising criticism over the newly appointed governm ...
Tuesday, 16 July 13
TAKE - OR - PAY CONTRACTS CONTINUE TO INCENTIVISE AUSTRALIAN COAL PRODUCERS DESPITE POTENTIAL NEGATIVE CASH MARGINS - WOOD MACKENZIE
Australia's coal production has continued to grow, despite lower coal prices in 2013. Global investors and suppliers are therefore questioning whet ...
Monday, 15 July 13
INDONESIAN GOVERNMENT HAS REVISED DOWN ITS JULY BENCH-MARK COAL PRICE TO US$ 81.69 PER MT
COALspot. com - Indonesian Coal Price Reference dropped 3.75 % and hitting a 2013 low. The Indonesian government has revised down its owned coal ben ...
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- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- The University of Queensland
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Planning Commission, India
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Australian Coal Association
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- White Energy Company Limited
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- MS Steel International - UAE
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- PTC India Limited - India
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
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